Daladier Intergalactic

Daladier Intergalactic is the largest megacorporation in the United Commonwealth of Planets. It has its headquarters in Marseilles, France, Europa, Terra. Daladier products can be found in every house in the Commonwealth, with the corporation dominating everything from personal electronics to military starships.

Maurice Bonnet originally founded Bonnet Industrial Corporation in 1929, producing weapons for the French Army in the Second World War. After the death of Bonnet in 1975 his nephew Phillipe Daladier took control of the company, rechristening it into Daladier International.

Formation
Maurice Bonnet was the son of Pierre and Elaine Maurice. His father was a salesman who had fought in the First World War, where he lost his left leg at Verdun. His father was a drunkard, and the two had a troubled relationship. Little is known of Elaine Bonnet other than she died in 1919 from a brain hemorrhage. Pierre Bonnet died in 1928 from pneumonia, leaving Maurice in charge of the Bonnet estate, a small house in Clermont-Ferrand. Maurice sold the house and used the francs to purchase a small clothes factory in Le Mans. Maurice created the Bonnet Industrial Corporation in 1929, with him as CEO, childhood friend Evrard Hardy as Vice-President, and approximately 14 employees. After the start of the Great Depression, Maurice feared his company would completely flounder, but quick thinking from Evrard saved the company. As Evrard managed to successfully maneuver the BIC away from economic collapse, Maurice used his natural charm to buy three other factories in Les Mans, including a weapons factory that had been in decline since the end of the First World War. With this new factory, Maurice and his engineers quickly developed a new, cheap, but effective weapon: the BIC-32 semi-automatic pistol. This pistol, while not the most popular weapon on the market, helped to keep BIC afloat through the toughest years of the great depression.

The BIC Move
In February 1933, with mounting debt, Bonnet sold all of his mainland factories and moved all operations to French North Africa, where labour was cheaper. BIC headquarters was moved to Algiers, and the company quickly began to rise in the local economy. Within two years BIC had factories in almost every major city in North Africa, from Casablanca to Tunis. Maurice also famously worked to combat racism and discrimination, paying all his employees, whether they be a man or woman, French or North Africa, the same wage.

War in Europe
With increased tensions between France and Nazi Germany BIC's weapons division began pumping out new products as fast as possible. By 1938, of BIC's 14 factories, 9 had been converted for military purposes. Also in 1938 Maurice's only sibling, his sister Joann, died of cancer. Her husband had panicked and ran off to Singapore when she became pregnant, and her death left her one month old son in the care of Maurice. Maurice changed his nephew's name from Phillipe Bonnet to Phillipe Daladier, after a French Prime Minister.

In 1939 the war that had long been expected began. Maurice left for America to rally support for the French war effort and collect investors to support BIC's expansion, leaving Evrard in charge from Marseilles. Maurice found mild success with General Automatic and Corsair Aeronautics, raising about $30 million. At this time in France, however, German armored forces broke through the Ardennes and swept through the country. In June of 1940 the French Government surrendered. Maurice was shocked and outraged by this, quickly throwing his support to leader of the Free French Forces Charles de Gaulle. At this time, however, the company would suffer a major setback. On the night of June 18, 1940, Evrard Hardy was returning to BIC's headquarters in the city when he was confronted by a pair of intoxicated Wehrmacht soldiers. The soldiers accused Evrard of being a Jew, though they had no evidence. Evrard, a devout Catholic for his whole life, attempted to brush the drunk men aside. This angered the soldiers, who proceeded to gun down Hardy, killing him instantly. The German government then attempted to cover up the story, stating Evrard had attacked the two soldiers, despite the fact he had joined the fascistic Action Francaise soon after the fall of Paris.